Iyiola Omisore, candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Saturday’s Osun State governorship election, has denied multiple claims by loyalists of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that he has agreed to work for the party ahead of Thursday’s rerun.
Omisore is no longer in the race, and in fact already conceded the election, having placed a distant third with a margin that cannot be closed were he to win all the votes in the polling units where results were cancelled.
However, with the strength of his support despite defecting to SDP from the PDP just four months before the election, both the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC0 recognise that his support could all but determine where the pendulum swings on Thursday.
Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation, was the first to say on Monday that Omisore had expressed willingness to work with Adeleke ahead of Thursday’s rerun.
Senate President Bukola Saraki subsequently said Omisore had agreed to work with the PDP because their goals were the same. “Over the next 24 hours, we will work out the details,” he had even added.
However, despite going on Twitter to himself thank Saraki “for the visit”, Omisore has told SaharaReporters that the meetings do not in any way make it final that he was now working for the PDP.
“The news going round that I have agreed to work with the PDP is falsehood,” Omisore told SaharaReporters on Monday night.
“We met and we discussed. SDP is a party, so also is the PDP.
“APC too had reached out to us in SDP. Our concern is good governance of this state. We are here to ensure that whichever party takes over the government adopts SDP’s programmes and policies as stated in our manifesto.”
Omisore’s words were reiterated by his media team, a member telling SaharaReporters: “To situate it well, Senator Iyiola Omisore has not agreed to work with PDP; he discussed with its leadership just as APC also reached out to him for discussion.”
In Saturday’s election, Adeleke polled 254,699 votes, while APC’s Isiaka Oyetola recorded 254,345 votes.
Omisore placed third with 128,049 votes.
Since the difference between the two leading parties was just 353 votes but the number of cancelled votes was 3,498, INEC declared that no winner had emerged, and ordered a rerun in the polling units where the results were cancelled.
